Textiles often become hard and lose their softness due to repeated washing. In order to restore softness and flexibility to textiles, and to impart a pleasant scent to them and/or improve their antistatic characteristics, the textiles are often treated with a rinse conditioner in a rinse process that occurs after the actual washing and cleaning process.
Most commercially available rinse conditioners are aqueous formulations that contain a cationic textile-softening compound comprising one or two long-chain alkyl groups in a single molecule as the main active component. Widely used cationic textile-softening compounds include, for example, methyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N-di(tallowacyloxyethyl)ammonium compounds or N,N-dimethyl-N,N-di(tallowacyloxyethyl)ammonium compounds.
Due to the presence of cationic compounds, these conventional rinse conditioner formulations cannot be used simultaneously with the washing or cleaning agents in the actual washing or cleaning process since the cationic softeners interact undesirably with the anionic surfactants typically present. An additional rinsing operation is therefore necessary, but this practice is both time-consuming and energy-intensive.
A further disadvantage is that conventional rinse conditioners do not prevent the deposition of lime residues on the laundry during the rinsing operation. In addition, conventional rinse conditioners often leave unattractive deposits in the dispensing compartment of the washing machine.
Problems may also occur with other textile-conditioning compounds that require separate dispensing and/or a separate rinse cycle.
In many cases, such as for example with towels or functional textiles, using a rinse conditioner is undesirable or even inappropriate. For instance, using conventional rinse conditioners comprising ester quats may impair the breathability of breathable functional textiles. Many consumers do not use any rinse conditioner for towels since the ester quats left in the towels reduce the water absorption capacity of the towels.
Consumers would nevertheless like to impart a pleasant scent to laundered items through washing or rinsing processes.
WO2007/115872 A1 discloses solid, textile-conditioning textile treatment agents which contain a perfume, usable in the main washing cycle of a washing machine.
In addition to transferring scent onto the laundry, there is also interest in controlling malodors. With that in mind, there still remains the need for solid textile treatment agents having perfume capable of controlling malodors.